2026/05/25

249. The Gospel of John and the Priesthood of the New Covenant: The Lord's Prayer and the Seven Blessedness VII

The passage containing the fifth blessedness of the Book of Revelation—"Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years" (Rev 20:6)—is found towards the end of the section entitled "Prophecy of the Completion of the Liturgy of the Mass (Chs. 19-20) " in the diagram, Prophetic Composition of the Book of Revelation (cf. figure below). The perfection of the Liturgy of the Mass prophesied here belongs to the Church, which is composed not only of priests working in union with the Holy Spirit, but also of the faithful who constantly strive for holiness so as to produce such priests. In the previous issue, we discussed how the fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer—"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us"—includes the forgiveness of sins for all people. The Lord's Prayer keeps alive within us, as we recite it, the flame of hope that leads to the fifth blessedness of Revelation as we journey towards the perfection of the Liturgy of the Mass. 

Alongside the Church's efforts to bring the Mass to its perfection, the power of the Word, which purifies the faithful for holiness, continues to work unceasingly. The Christ-like petitions of the Lord's Prayer, as recited by the faithful, are transmitted through their memories, from one acquaintance to another, and out into the communities of this world. Amongst modern people striving to master AI amid an information society, there are surely some who sense this keenly and choose to maintain a distance between themselves and the information. Jesus, who said on the cross, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Lk 23:34), desires the salvation of those to whom "human information" has stuck and live captive to it without understanding why; even now, He draws such people to the Mass. 

Revelation chapter 19 depicts the purification of the living believers (cf. Rev 19:11–16) and the purification of this world as the efficacy of the perfected Mass liturgy spreads (cf. 19:17–21). The following chapter, chapter 20, concerns the dead. There it is written: "Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom judgment was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life, and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (20:4). This signifies that these people have shared in the "first resurrection" (20:5) and, together with Christ, are participating in our Mass from heaven. The "thousand years" is one day for God (cf. 2 Peter 3:8). It is a perpetual time in which the Mass is constantly being celebrated somewhere on earth. 

Of the two types of the dead depicted here, the first are priests who died having fulfilled the institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood of the New Covenant, conferred upon them through apostolic succession—the succession of kingship entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles at the Last Supper. Next, the "testimony to Jesus" refers here to the fact that Jesus, as the Christ, continued to forgive sins throughout His life, even at the moment of His death. "Those who had been beheaded ... for the word of God" are those who, like the priests, were purified from "human information" by the Word, as if they had been beheaded, so that they might work with the Holy Spirit. Conscious of their identity as a people entrusted with the priesthood of the New Covenant, they did not worship either the "beast"—ensnared by power and the lust for domination—or the image of the beast and thus were not led astray. 

The above constitutes the full scope of the fifth blessedness of Revelation, which is the destination of the fifth petition of the Lord's Prayer—"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us"—praying for the forgiveness of sins for all people. Those who have attained the blessedness—"Blessed and holy is he who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years"—are the culmination of the new people striving for holiness through the forgiveness of sins. They bear witness to eternal life, which leads all people to the forgiveness of sins. 

Having thus far explored the theme of the Lord's Prayer and the seven blessedness of Revelation, we shall now examine the final two to conclude this theme. It is foreseen that, after the concluding rites of the Mass, the faithful will encounter new "beasts" and "false prophets" and face evil spirits in the course of their daily routines as they make their way to the next Mass. What counters this is the blessing of dismissal conferred by the priest at the concluding rites of the Mass. This blessing incorporates a prayer that the sixth and seventh petitions of the Lord's Prayer—"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil"—may be fulfilled. With this blessing, we set out once more to live our lives looking to the next Mass. This is not a departure from the Mass, but an extension of that sacred space. That is because the gaze of those who are to become "priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years" is fixed upon the blessing imparted by the priest. 

For believers to avoid falling into temptation, as stated in the Lord's Prayer, it is essential that they consciously distinguish themselves from "human information." To this end, the sixth blessedness in Revelation declares: "And behold, I am coming soon. 'Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book'" (Rev 22:7). This blessedness points to the fact that there is no other way but to return to the first blessedness of Revelation—"Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein; for the time is near" (1:3)—and to continue the cycle of training of the Book of Revelation. This is the sole spiritual training given by the Heavenly Father through Christ (cf. 1:1) to protect believers from evil and to bring them the seventh blessedness of Revelation: "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates" (22:14). 

Maria K. M.